Method for Managing Annotations in a Computer-Aided Design Drawing

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a CAD drawing in a workspace representing a sheet of paper on which the CAD drawing is to be outputted, wherein the CAD drawing includes modeled objects and annotations, said method comprising the steps of: receiving a user input that specifies a first scale for a viewport; generating a drawing in model space of a modeled object having a first size in the viewport in accordance with the first scale; receiving a user input that specifies a fixed size in paper space for annotations to be included in the drawing; generating a first annotation in model space having a size in paper space equal to the fixed size relative to a sheet of paper on which the first annotation is to be output; receiving a user input that specifies a second scale for the viewport; and in response to receiving the user input that specifies the second scale, generating a scaled drawing in model space of the modeled object having a second size, wherein the first annotation in the scaled drawing maintains a size equal to the fixed size in paper space.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the annotations comprise one or more of text, dimensions, hatch patterns, and symbols.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of receiving a user input that specifies a rotation of the first annotation.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the viewport is divided into first and second viewports, and the first scale is selected for the first viewport and the second scale is selected for the second viewport, and wherein the fixed size in paper space of annotations generated in the first viewport is equal to the fixed size in paper space of annotations generated in the second viewport.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the annotations are generated using a first set of annotation objects, wherein the first set of annotation objects is used to generate the annotations in the first viewport and the second viewport.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: determining that an annotative property associated with the first annotation has a value equal to a first value; in response to receiving the user input that specifies the second scale, not scaling the first annotation in accordance with the second scale so that the first annotation has a size that remains equal to the specified fixed size in paper space; determining that an annotative property associated with a second annotation has a value equal to a second value; and in response to receiving the user input that specifies the second scale, scaling the second annotation in accordance with the second scale so that the second annotation has a size that is not equal to the specified fixed size in paper space.

7. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computer system to carry out the steps of: receiving a user input that specifies a first scale for a viewport; generating a drawing in model space of a modeled object having a first size in the viewport in accordance with the first scale; receiving a user input that specifies a fixed size in paper space for annotations to be included in the drawing; generating a first annotation in model space having a size equal in paper space to the fixed size relative to a sheet of paper on which the first annotation is to be output; receiving a user input that specifies a second scale for the viewport; and in response to receiving the user input that specifies the second scale, generating a scaled drawing in model space of the modeled object having a second size, wherein the first annotation in the scaled drawing maintains a size equal to the fixed size in paper space.

8. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 7 , wherein the instructions further cause the computer system to carry out the steps of prompting a user to specify the fixed size for the first annotation and storing the user specified fixed size.

9. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 8 , wherein the instructions further cause the computer system to carry out the steps of prompting a user to specify a rotation angle for the first annotation and storing the user specified rotation angle, wherein the first annotation is generated in the viewport in accordance with the user specified rotation angle.

10. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 7 , wherein the viewport is divided into first and second viewports, and the first scale is selected for the first viewport and the second scale is selected for the second viewport, and wherein the fixed size of annotations generated in the first viewport is equal to the fixed size of annotations generated in the second viewport.

11. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 10 , wherein the annotations are generated using a first set of annotation objects, wherein the first set of annotation objects is used to generate the annotations in the first viewport and the second viewport.

12. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 7 , further comprising the steps of: determining that an annotative property associated with the first annotation has a value equal to a first value; in response to receiving the user input that specifies the second scale, not scaling the first annotation in accordance with the second scale so that the first annotation has a size that remains equal to the specified fixed size in paper space; determining that an annotative property associated with a second annotation has a value equal to a second value; and in response to receiving the user input that specifies the second scale, scaling the second annotation in accordance with the second scale so that the second annotation has a size that is not equal to the specified fixed size in paper space.

13. A method for creating a CAD drawing in a number of viewports, each viewport having a scale and representing a sheet of paper on which the CAD drawing is to be printed, said method comprising the steps of: receiving a user input that specifies a fixed size in paper space for annotations to be included in each viewport; annotating the CAD drawing in model space with text having the fixed size; preparing a first viewport in which the CAD drawing is generated in model space in accordance with a first scale and the text is generated to maintain a size relative to the sheet of paper on which the annotations are to be printed that is equal to the specified fixed size in paper space; and preparing a second viewport in which the CAD drawing is to be generated in model space in accordance with a second scale and the text is generated to maintain a size that is equal to the specified fixed size in paper space.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the text is represented as a software object having a fixed size and multiple properties.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the multiple properties include scale, visibility, text position and rotation.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the scale of the software object corresponds to the scale of the viewport in which the text is to be generated.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the visibility of the software object determines whether or not the text is to be visible in the viewport.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the text position of the software object determines the position of the text in the viewport.

19. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the rotation of the software object determines the amount of rotation of the text in the viewport.

20. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising the step of changing the scale of the first viewport to a third scale, wherein, in response thereto, the CAD drawing is generated in model space in accordance with the third scale and the text is generated to maintain a size that is equal to the specified fixed size in paper space.